The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Cornus plant, commercially produced as an ornamental shrub, botanically known as Cornus kousa and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Melanie’.
The new Cornus plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Wernhout, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new Cornus plants with improved growth habit and unique leaf coloration.
The new Cornus plant originated from an open-pollination in 2003 of an unnamed selection of Cornus kousa, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown selection of Cornus kousa. The new Cornus plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor from within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled environment in Wernhout, The Netherlands in 2003.
Asexual reproduction of the new Cornus plant by softwood cuttings in a controlled environment in Lottum, The Netherlands since 2005, has shown that the unique features of this new Cornus plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.